Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Christian Torres writes that Facebook and the pharmaceutical industry have had an uneasy partnership in recent years and many drug companies didn’t join the site until Facebook gave them a privilege that others do not have — blocking the public’s ability to openly comment on a page Wall. But that’s about to change when, starting Monday, most drug company pages will have to have open Walls. "We think these policy changes support consistency for the Facebook Pages product and encourage an authentic dialogue between people and businesses on Facebook," wrote Facebook in an email. AstraZeneca, which sells the antidepressant Seroquel, already shut down a page devoted to depression, Johnson & Johnson says it will close four of its pages, and other companies say they will monitor their pages more closely once the changes take effect. The industry is concerned that users might write about bad side effects, promote off-label use or make inappropriate statements about a product, and that the comments could raise concerns from government regulators."

, and that the comments could raise concerns from government regulators."

That's what it sounds like they want to do. The average member of the public really doesn't know where to start if they have a complaint about a drug. A facebook page on the other hand, that many people could use. Wouldn't want the regulators catching wind of a covered-up side-effect on a drug now do we?

If someone posts and says "Hey I started getting bad stomach cramps after taking this drug, anyone else notice this?", and suddenly